


Brothers and Friends - The Pendragon Boys 1

by dragonflyMerri



Series: The Pendragon Boys [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: AU modern, Daddy Merthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-23
Updated: 2012-03-23
Packaged: 2017-11-02 10:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonflyMerri/pseuds/dragonflyMerri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU: Arthur and Merlin have their hands full when their young sons Jamie and Colin fight, as all brothers do. But when a ‘bestest’ friend is involved….</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brothers and Friends - The Pendragon Boys 1

“Jamie!! Stop it! No, no, no, stop it Jaimie, stop it!” 

The child’s voice reached out onto the patio where Arthur and Merlin were relaxing with a coffee at day’s end. Instinctively their conversation stopped as they both listened for where this outburst would go. 

“JAMIE!! No, no, no, I hate you, I hate you!” The voice broke into a wail and heartbroken sobbing, disappearing as its owner ran down the hall to his bedroom.

As one, Arthur and Merlin rose and headed back into the house. In the livingroom, they found a defiant 5 year old Jamie, scowling down the hallway. 4 year old Colin was nowhere to be found. 

Arthur and Merlin exchanged looks and sighs before each moved to a child. Merlin walked over to Jamie and Arthur headed down the hall to comfort Colin.

***

Merlin stood in front of Jamie, crossed his arms and looked down at him expectantly. Jamie was wearing his ‘pompous prince’ face, arrogant and beetle-browed – a face he only wore when he had done something he knew would get him in trouble. Blue eyes looked back up at Merlin from beneath his golden fringe. Jamie looked so much like his birth father even now. Arthur wore that same expression when raging about something that had gone wrong at work. 

“Jamie?”

Jamie’s scowl turned into a pout as he looked down at his feet, the play sword he was holding digging into the toes of his runners. As his lip progressed further and further into a pout, Merlin’s eyebrow rose higher and higher.

“S’not my fault,” the 5 year old muttered.

“What did you do to Colin?”

“Didn’t do nothing.” Jamie’s toe dug into the rug

“Then why is Colin crying?” 

Jamie’s chin dropped further into his chest and he muttered something so low Merlin couldn’t hear. 

“Again Jamie, I didn’t quite hear that.”

Jamie looked up at his Papa. Papa had called him Jamie instead of his full name, so maybe he wasn’t in too much trouble.

“Me ‘n Col were just playing.”

“What were you playing?”

“I wanted to play knights but Col wouldn’t play. He just wanted to play with his stoopid Dragon.” Jamie banged his sword against his leg for emphasis and scowled again.

“You know Colin loves his Dragon.” Merlin said automatically. Colin took his plush stuffed dragon everywhere, even slept with it. “So what happened that Colin’s crying now.”

Jamie shrugged and suddenly looked very interested in the view out the window. “I just wanted him to play with me, I didn’t mean it.” 

“Mean what? What happened Jamie?”

“Ummm,” Jamie looked back down at his shoes. “I think I kinda broke Dragon.” 

Merlin took in a sharp breath. Dragon was Colin’s most prized possession. “How did you ‘kinda broke’ Dragon?” 

“I kinda tore his wing off….I think.” 

“James Arthur Pendragon!”

Oh-oh, thought Jamie, he was in real trouble now. Papa only used his full name when he was really, really bad. Jamie peered up at Papa through his blonde fringe. Papa was wearing his mad face.

“You tore Dragon? You know better than that! Dragon is Colin’s favourite toy. How could you do something like that?”

“I just wanted Col to play with me,” Jamie appealed to his Papa. “He wouldn’t play with me so I tried to take Dragon away and Col wouldn’t let go and I tried and tried and then he just broke!” Tears trembled in Jamie’s big blue eyes. “If Col had just played with me, Dragon wouldn’t be broke.”

“Why couldn’t you play with Colin and Dragon?”

“Because he always has that stoopid Dragon!” Jamie yelled. “He loves that stoopid Dragon more than he loves me!” Jamie turned his back on Merlin, a hand wiping away the tears that had fallen.  
“He loves that stoopid Dragon more than me,” Jamie whispered.

Merlin sighed, then dropped to one knee. He reached out for his son, turning him and pulling him into his arms. Jamie burrowed his head in Merlin’s neck and Merlin felt the hot tears that Jamie refused to cry.

“S’not fair, Papa. Col loves Dragon more than me.”

Merlin curled his arms tighter around his son, kissing his soft blonde hair. Jamie was the spitting image of his father and Merlin loved him all the more for it.

“You know that’s not true, Jamie. Colin loves you very, very much. You’re his big brother. But he also loves Dragon. As his big brother, you’re supposed to protect him, not hurt him by trying to take Dragon away from him. You love your sword, don’t you?”

Jamie nodded into Merlin’s neck.

“You wouldn’t like it if someone took your sword and broke it, would you?”

Merlin knew that Jamie cherished his sword, it was his favourite toy and he loved playing knights, swinging the sword around to rescue anyone and everyone.

Jamie shook his head, then pulled his sword up to hug against his chest, just in case.

“You know you’ve done a bad thing, breaking Dragon, don’t you?”

Jamie nodded. “I didn’t mean to break it. I just wanted to make Col play with me instead.”

“Nevertheless, you did break Dragon. So what are we going to do about it?”

Jamie looked up in panic. “Papa! You’re not going to break my sword are you?”

Merlin bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “No, I’m not going to break your sword. But I do think…” Merlin took the sword from the little boy. “I think, that until we can fix Dragon, that I am going to take your sword away from you. If Colin can’t have his Dragon, then you can’t have your sword.”

Jamie looked at his sword in abject misery, then up at Merlin. “Promise you won’t break it, Papa?”

“I won’t break it. I’ll keep it safe and you can have it back when Colin gets Dragon back safe and sound. Now, you’ve made Colin very upset. I think you should think of a way to make it up to him, don’t you? What can you do – something nice - that will show Colin you’re sorry about breaking Dragon?”

Jamie thought hard then his face brightened. “I can draw Col a picture of Dragon in school tomorrow!”

Merlin smiled. “I think that would be a very nice thing to do.” 

“I can draw Dragon with flames coming out of his mouth…..and Col riding on his back! Col always pretends he’s riding Dragon. He’d like that, huh Papa?”

“I think that’s an excellent picture to draw and I think Colin will like it very much.” Merlin smiled at Jamie and received a blinding smile in return. “Now, how about we fix Colin a special snack to say how sorry you are about what you’ve done? You can take it to him when you go and apologize.”

“We can make him juice and a crisp samwich. Crisp samwich is Col’s most favourite, huh, Papa?” 

“Crisp sandwich it is – and we can cut it into soldiers to make it even more special.”

Jamie grabbed his Papa’s hand and tugged him into the kitchen. “And apple juice, Papa. Col loves apple juice best.”

 

****

 

As Arthur walked down the hall, the sounds of sobbing became clearer. He stopped in the doorway of Colin’s room and looked in on his son. The little boy was at his drawing table, back to the door and his thin shoulders shook with every sobbing breath. His mop of black curls was bent over the table and his ears, sticking out just as much as Merlin’s, were red from the storm of emotion. He was busy with something on the desk. 

“Colin? What’s the matter, sweetheart?” 

The four year old looked over his shoulder at his Daddy, his face a mask of heart-rending misery, trails of tears down is sharp cheekbones and his big silver-blue eyes swimming in even more tears. 

“Daddy.” Colin ran to Arthur and hurled himself into his outstretched arms. Arthur picked him up and Colin buried his head in Arthur’s neck, his thin arms holding on for dear life.  
“Oh Daddy…. Daddy….. Daddy…” Colin sobbed in renewed anguish.

Arthur tightened his hold on his tiny son, only a year younger than Jamie but so much smaller and more fragile in build, the very image of his birth father. Arthur rubbed comforting circles on the little boy’s back while making soothing sounds, in between dropping kisses on his mop of curls. He moved over to sit on the bed and adjusted Colin to cradle him on his lap.

“What’s the matter, little man? Why all the tears?”

Without moving his head from where it was buried in Arthur’s neck, Colin unwound one thin arm and pointed back at his desk. “Dragon is broke.” Then he burst into another bout of sobbing.

Arthur looked over at the desk and drew in a sharp breath. Colin’s beloved Dragon was lying on the desk, one wing dangling off the body, held on by only a few threads, and great swathes of sticky tape. Colin had apparently been trying to fix his beloved toy when Arthur came in. 

“Jamie broke Dragon. He broke Dragon,” Colin sobbed. 

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry.” Arthur rocked the little boy gently, holding him closer. Because Colin was so much like Merlin, his every pain seemed to echo in Arthur’s heart even more than if it was Jamie. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it.”

“He did! He did, Daddy. He said he hated Dragon and then….and then….he broke him.” The little boy took a deep shuddering breath, and then whispered wretchedly, “Oh daddy.”

Arthur closed his eyes to force back his own tears of empathy. The entire household knew that the most precious thing in the whole world for Colin was his beloved Dragon. He had loved it from the moment it had been placed in his cradle as a christening gift from his Aunty Morgana. One month old Colin Emrys Pendragon (because Merlin had refused to give his son ‘Merlin’ as a middle name) had reached out to the dragon and latched on, not letting go. Wherever Colin went, he went clutching Dragon. If Dragon had to be washed, Colin sat in front of the washer and dryer until Dragon emerged again, clean, safe and in one piece. 

It had been a monumental task convincing him that Dragon had to stay home when he went to playschool. Merlin had to take Dragon to school on the first day, to ‘tour the school and see everywhere that Colin would be’, and it was only when Merlin assured Colin that Dragon would be waiting for him each day so Colin could tell Dragon all his adventures at school, that Colin had begrudgingly let Dragon go. But Dragon still rode to school with him each morning and was waiting at the kitchen table when Colin got home. 

Dragon being broken was a huge tragedy.

“What happened, little man? Why did Jamie break Dragon?”

Colin turned tragic eyes to Arthur, his bottom lip trembling. “Jamie wanted to play knights but I didn’t want to. I told him I didn’t want to be rescued. Jamie always makes me be the girl, but I’m not a girl.”

Arthur bit his lip to keep from smiling, and nodded solemnly at the four year old. 

“Jamie said he was going to rescue me from Dragon, but I said no. Dragon wouldn’t hurt me. Dragon loves me. But Jamie said Dragon doesn’t love me and he would hurt me so he was going to rescue me and then he tried to take Dragon and….and….” 

The little boy’s voice faded out and a single fat tear rolled slowly down his cheek. He lay his head on his Daddy’s shoulder and heaved a sigh much to big and tragic for such a small boy. 

“Dragon would never hurt me Daddy. He’s my bestest friend in the whole world.” 

“What about Jamie? Isn’t he your ‘bestest’ friend in the whole world?”

“Jamie’s my bestest brother. Dragon’s my bestest friend.”

Arthur was beginning to see where the problem might have arisen. Jamie was fiercely protective of his little brother and would often declare to one and all that “Colin is mine!” Even when playing with his other friends, Jamie always made sure Colin was part of the group, and woe betide anyone who accidently hurt him.

“Did you tell Jamie that Dragon was your ‘bestest’ friend?” 

Colin nodded.

“Well, maybe Jamie wants to be your ‘bestest’ friend, did you think of that?” 

Colin looked up at him, confused. “But Jamie’s my bestest brother.”

“Well, he can also be your ‘bestest’ friend. I happen to know that Jamie loves you very much and I’m pretty sure that you are Jamie’s ‘bestest’ friend.”

Colin’s eyes widened. “I am?”

Arthur nodded. “I’m pretty sure you are. And I’m pretty sure that Jamie didn’t mean to hurt Dragon like that. I bet if you talk to him, Jamie would tell you how sorry he is.”

Colin looked over at the desk. “But Dragon’s still broke. What am I going to do, Daddy?”

The little boy turned in Arthur’s arms and snuggled back into his neck, wrapping his arms once more around his neck. “My Dragon’s broke, Daddy,” he said sadly.

Arthur looked over at the stuffed toy. “I’m pretty sure that we can fix Dragon. I bet if we asked Aunty Gwen really nicely, I bet she would fix Dragon up so well that you’ll never even be able to see where he was broken.”

Colin looked up at his Daddy, his face radiating hope. “Really, Daddy? Aunty Gwen can fix Dragon?” 

“I’m pretty sure she can. She’s kind of special, our Aunty Gwen, isn’t she?” 

Colin nodded in agreement then cast an eye over Dragon again. “Can we call her right away Daddy? I don’t want Dragon to be broke.” 

Arthur smiled now that the drama had passed. Standing up, he shifted Colin onto his hip. 

“Let’s go call her right now. And while I call her, how about we go get a drink of apple juice? And maybe, you can ask Jamie if he’d like some apple juice too?” 

Colin nodded and Arthur headed into the kitchen with is precious package firmly balanced on his hip. In the kitchen, they found Merlin and Jamie putting the finishing touches to a plate of sandwich soldiers. Two glasses of apple juice were sitting on the table.

Merlin and Jamie looked up as Arthur and Colin entered. They could see the tracks of tears on Colin’s face, but he was no longer crying. He looked back at them with solemn eyes. 

“I’m sorry Col. I didn’t mean to break Dragon.” Jamie looked up at his little brother with all sincerity. “I’m not gonna play with my sword until Dragon’s fixed.” 

“S’OK,” Colin said, nestling his head on Arthur’s shoulder. “Daddy said Aunty Gwen can fix him. We’re gonna call her now.” 

Merlin and Arthur exchanged private smiles over the heads of their sons. 

Colin squirmed to get down, and Arthur set him on one of the kitchen chairs. 

“I made you crisp samwiches, Col, cause they’re your favourite. I’m really sorry, Col.” 

Colin picked up a sandwich soldier and bit into it. 

“S’OK” he said. When he finished his mouthful, he looked at Jamie shyly, peeping up from under lowered lashes. “If you want, you can be my bestest friend until Dragon is better.” 

Jamie looked up from his sandwich and gave his brother a brilliant smile. Then he nodded. “That’s good. Cause you’re my bestest friend already.” 

Colin giggled and stuffed some more sandwich in his mouth. “But I’m not gonna be rescued no more, ‘K? Cause I’m not a girl.”

Merlin looked at Arthur, his eyes wide in unspoken question. Arthur grinned back. “Later” he mouthed silently.


End file.
